Breaking the Silence
by SomewhereApart
Summary: Just a little E/C ficlet following the events of 8.03.


"You broke first," Calleigh teased with a grin as she answered her phone.

The sound of Eric's voice as he chuckled and told her, "I didn't realize this was a contest," made her smile impossibly wider. She hadn't realized how much she loved the sound of his voice until she had to go so long without it. Now, she wanted to wallow in it, wanted to give it her undivided attention, so she muted the TV and stretched out on the sofa, shutting her eyes so there was nothing but him.

"It's not."

"Mm." It was noncommittal, but low enough to be reminiscent of his bedroom voice, and the correlation had her toes curling into the sofa cushion.

"But you did say you'd see me at work, so..."

"And you believed me?" he asked, incredulous.

"Well, you did drive a car at me," she reasoned playfully, laughing when he countered as she knew he would:

"You shot at me!"

"After you drove a car at me."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't have hit you," he pointed out. "But you... you're a pretty good shot, Calleigh."

"I'm a _damned _good shot," she corrected, sighing as she felt the inevitable slide of the conversation from playful to serious. "I could have killed you. You should have told me what you were doing."

"So you could talk me out of it?"

"Yes."

"I did what I had to do, Calleigh. He's my father. He's my family."

"And what am I?" she asked, blinking her eyes back open and studying the steady whirl of her ceiling fan as she spoke to him. It made her feel a little dizzy, a little disoriented, but she'd felt hat way for days now, hadn't she? "You put yourself in harm's way, Eric. And I told you -- I _told_ you not to."

"You're not my keeper, Cal." She'd have bristled at the words if they hadn't been so gentle.

"No, I'm just your girlfriend. I'm one of the only things you trust right now, remember that? Remember when you said that, Eric?" In bed one night, early on, bodies still warm and tangled together. Her sweaty belly against his sweaty side, her head on his shoulder, warm breath ebbing against the side of his neck. She'd wanted to say _I love you_, but instead she'd said _I trust you_. She wasn't sure which admission held more weight coming from her, to be honest, but he'd turned his head and pressed his lips to her hair, and said, _Thank you. I trust you, too. There's not a lot I trust right now, but I trust this. Us._ She'd answered _Good_, and let sleep take her.

"Yeah, I remember."

"So... what happened to that trust?"

"Look, Calleigh, you made it clear how you felt. I needed to do this. He wanted out, and I needed to help him. He's my _father_."

"Yeah, I know he's your father, Eric, but..." She sighed heavily, shut her eyes again when the world began to tilt and spin. "God, why then? Why _there?_ I _shot_ at you, Eric."

"Well, I drove a car at you."

"Not funny anymore," she clipped. "County could have brought him in. We could have done it by the book. You didn't have to risk your life and your job for this. You could have been fired -- _I _could have been fired. Do you know how _terrified_ I was when I thought I'd shot you? I love you."

"I love you, too. You know that."

"I don't know," she sighed, feeling that now-too-familiar ache settle back in around her heart. "I don't know where we are anymore, Eric. I don't know how this... how everything that happened..."

"Calleigh?" His voice was soft, wary, like he was waiting for her to say they were over, and she'd thought about it, really she had. As much as she wanted to just sweep this under the rug and pretend everything was fine, it wasn't. She wasn't. She wasn't fine; she wasn't fine with what had happened, with what could have happened. But at the end of the day, she was even less okay with the idea of not having him in her life anymore.

"All I know is that not being able to talk to you, or see you, not being able to see that you were okay... it was awful, Eric. You were all I could think about. I missed you."

"I know. But I'm okay," he assured. "We're going to be okay. I promise."

"Just don't go doing anything stupid again, okay?" she murmured. "I don't want to lose you."

"I promise the next time I'm going to do something you might think is stupid, I'll run it by you first." He was teasing; she could hear the smile in his voice, and it tugged up the corners of her own mouth. "How's that?"

"Fine."

The line was quiet for a minute, but it was almost a comfortable silence. She thought she'd have so much to say to him, had spent the days apart fighting the conflicting urges to smack some sense into him or lock him up safe in her bedroom, but now she found herself content to just listen to him breathe for a moment.

She opened her eyes, watched the fan again as it spun once, twice, six, eight times, and then she found herself saying, "Come over. I want to see you."

"I'm in the driveway."

"What?" Her brow knit and she sat up slightly, craning her head toward the front window. She couldn't see the drive from this angle, but there was no way. She'd have heard him pull in, wouldn't she? "You are not."

"Sure, I am." She heard the sound of a car door slamming, and laughed. "I called from here. Figured I would make sure you really wanted to see me before I rang the bell."

"You're insane," she chuckled, pushing up off the couch, and heading for the front door. "Why wouldn't I want to see you?"

"Well, you did shoot at me."

"You drove a car at me!" She reached the door just as the bell chimed.

"Yeah," he agreed, as she opened the door to finding him standing there, phone in hand, grinning at her. "Guess I kind of deserved it, huh?"

Calleigh shook her head, still laughing, and tugged him inside.


End file.
